èrặ´dic│āte‌‌‌

“Tear up by the roots; remove, get rid of.”

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (1982)

The Ontario Government has adopted the Low Income Measure – After Tax (LIM-AT) as its official poverty indicator. The LIM-AT identifies people at income levels less than 50% of the median income in the population as living in poverty (i.e. in the bottom 25% of all incomes).

Poverty eradication means pursuing the lowest possible levels of poverty in the industrialized world, both in incidence and in depth.

Using the LIM-AT, other countries have been able to get their overall poverty rates down to as low as 4% [OECD]

A general poverty rate of 4% or lower should be the goal for Ontario, which was at a 9.1% general poverty rate in 2008. This rate is destined to increase significantly when next reported in June 2011 as signalled by food bank usage in Ontario, which increased by 28% between March 2008 and March 2010. (www.oafb.ca/assets/pdfs/HungerReport2010.pdf ).

Poverty eradication also means eliminating “deep poverty” in Ontario, which is measured as all individuals and families living below 40% of the median income level in the population (i.e. at or lower than 80% of the poverty line). In Ontario, people living on social assistance live in deep poverty.

Ending deep poverty and bringing the general poverty rate down to 4% or lower demands a structural approach that addresses income adequacy to meet the basic necessities of life rather than relying on programs that make the poor responsible for their poverty.